Ultima IV – Quest of the Avatar

Ultima IV – Quest of the Avatar
Game No.	439
Developer	Richard Garriott
Company	Origin Systems
Publisher	{{{Publisher}}}
Musician	{{{Musician}}}
HVSC-File	MUSICIANS/A/Arnold_Kenneth/Ultima_IV-Quest_of_the_Avatar.sid
Release	1986
Platform	C64, Amiga, Apple Macintosh, Atari ST, MSX, PC-DOS
Genre	RPG 2D
Gamemode	1 Single player
Operation
Media
Language
Information	Forerunner: Ultima III – Exodus Follower: Ultima V – Warriors of Destiny

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Description

Ultima IV - Quest of the Avatar is the fourth part of the Ultima series.

Some time has passed since you as chosen Avatar of Britania have managed to defeat the evil Mondain and his followers. But again it was not granted to the mysterious land under the rule of Lord British to find peace. Although no super-villain threatens the realm this time, the evil is lurking everywhere.

The Avatar shall now strengthen in the eight virtues, protect the land and set a glowing example. These eight virtues are:

Honesty	Compassion	Valour	Justice	Sacrifice	Honour	Spirituality	Humility

And what is the story about the mysterious Book of Codex?

Special tasks await you, Avatar!

Design

In the fourth part of the Ultima series, the player needs to first endure a kind of medical-psychological examination und for this answer some questions to a gypsy. From this the character values are generated, which for the first time in the series cannot be allocated by the player. Ultima IV offers an upper world of enormous size in which Avatar and his troup, as usual from the bird's view, can walk around. The game world is in comparison to part three approx. sixteen times bigger. Ghost towns, captive balloons and pirate ships are examples for the diversified design of Britania. What was especially improved, is the communication with the NPCs, which now seems significantly more lively and coherent.

Screenshots

An animation from the intro of Ultima IV

Single screen animation of the starting sequence

The start of the game

Hints

Runes

The runes of Britannia

Following an old tradition handed down from generation to generation, many signs and signposts in Britannia are written in unique and fascinating runes which were once used by druids for their notations. According to a study, these runes are older than Britannia itself. The superficial wanderer might be confused by this writing, but the clever traveller will not spare any effort to study this writing intently.

Keys

Key	Key	Key
E :ENTER: Enter a town/dungeon/castle	S  :SEARCH: search surroundings*	O  :OPEN DOOR: open door*
T  :TALK: talk with NPCs (e.g merchants)	U  :USE: use a found item*	J  :JIMMY LOCK: open door with magical key*
Z  :ZTATUS: inventory (F5/F7 scrolls)	-	G  :GET CHEST: open a treasure chest
-	R  :READY WEAPON: draw a weapon	-
@  :NORTH: Go north; forwards in dungeons	W  :WEAR ARMOUR: put on armour	P  :PEER AT A GEM: use magic gem
[  :WEST: Go west; turn left in dungeons	A  : ATTACK: attack an enemy	I  :IGNITE TORCH: ignite a torch in the dungeons
]  :EAST: Go east; turn right in dungeons	C  :CAST SPELL: cast a spell	D  :DESCEND: climb down a ladder in dungeons
?  :SOUTH: Go south; backwards in dungeons	M  :MIX REAGENTS: mix ingredients for spells*	K  :KLIMB: climb up a ladder in dungeons
-	-	-
V  :VOLUME: switch sound on and off	H  :HOLE UP AND CAMP: rest and heal*	F  :FIRE CANNONS: fire cannons
Q  :QUIT & SAVE: save game	L  :LOCATE: confirm position with object*	X : X-it: dismount horse/leave ship
N  :NEW ORDER: set the order of the group*	Y  :YELL: shout a word	B  :BOARD: mount a horse or board a ship

*= command differs from Ultima III – Exodus

Solution

The aim of the game

The aim of the game consists of two parts. The first partial aim is to become an 8-Part Avatar. To reach this, you need to act all your life (in the game) in pursuance of the eight virtues of the Avatar. These eight virtus are Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, Spirituality and Humility. For each virtue there is an epiphany, which you get, when you have acted in your life along one of the virtues for long enough. When you have the epiphanes in all eight virtues, you are Avatar and have reached the first partial aim.

The second partial aim is directly connected to the first one: As Avatar you need to enter the last haven of evil in Britannie, the Great Stygian Abyss, find in it the Chamber of the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom and enter it. When you have received the last enlightment from the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom, the game is solved.

The companions

At the start of the game you need to answer seven questions with the choice of a virtue. Depending on the answer, there is a bonus on the each 15 points for INTelligence, DEXterity and STRength. At the same time, the two most used answers determine the final questions and the answer to that then determines the profession and the hometown of the created character who then takes the role of the companion in that town. In the further course of the game you then collect the companions from the other towns. The Bard starts as the only one with a long range weapon.

Virtue	Bonus	Profession	Town	Name	Details
1 - Honesty	Int +3	Mage	Moonglow	Mariah	North of the bridge at the entrance. Below it is a treasure chest (Rune of Honesty).
2 - Compassion	Dex +3	Bard	Britain	Iolo	Southeast behind a bridge at the campfire. He carries a box in his hand.
3 - Valor	Str +3	Fighter	Jhelom	Geoffrey	In the first room of the Inn. To enter, you only need a key.
4 - Justice	Dex+1,Int+1	Druid	Yew	Jaana	On a clearing that is deep in the forest west of the prison
5 - Sacrifice	Dex+1,Str+1	Tinker	Minoc	Julia	In the Poor House
6 - Honor	Int+1,Str+1	Paladin	Trinsic	Dupre	In the tavern
7 - Spirituality	Dex+Int+Str+	Ranger	Skara Brae	Shamino	The first person that you meet at the entrance
8 - Humility	no bonus	Shepherd	Magincia	Katrina	Southeast outside the ruin walls

The eight virtues

The only person who can tell you about the progress you made at each virtue is the seer in Lord British's castle. He also gives the permission to get the enlightment for each virtue, when you are ready. For each virtue there are rules in behaviour to which you strictly have to adhere to make progress.

• Honesty:
  Do not pick up the gold (treasure chests) that is lying around in towns, villages and castles!
  Never betray the blind traders at the Magical Reagents!
• Compassion:
  Never kill non-evil creatures!
  Never attack!
  Give beggars as much gold as possible!
• Valor:
  Fight as much as possible against evil creatures!
  Only flee when it is really necessary!
• Justice:
  Do not attack inhabitants in towns/villages/castles!
  Do not steal any gold!
  Do not kill any non-evil creatures, even when you are attacked by them (only make them flee)!
• Sacrifice:
  Give much gold to beggars!
  Donate often blood to the healer shop! (For this answer the question of whether you need help with "NO". Then you will be asked if you want to donate blood, which costs 100 hit points. Only go if you have at least 400 HP.)
• Honor:
  Do not pick up any treasure chests that do not belong to you!
  Do not attack non-evil creatures!
• Spirituality:
  Visit the seer often!
  Meditate often!
• Humility:
  Always answer the question "Art thou proud?" with "NO"!

After having received the permission from the seer to get an enlightment, you need to visit the shrine that belongs to the corresponding virtue and meditate for thress cycles. To be able to enter a shrine and meditate there you need two things: first the rune. It is needed to be able the enter the shrine in the first place. Then the mantra. This is a syllable or a word with which you can collect your thoughts and concentrate. Each shrine has its own mantra and its own rune. You will get to know the mantras through talking to people, the runes need to be found with the help of the search command.

Moon phases, coordinates of the moon gates, towns and runes

The moon gate system is rather easy to understand: The first moon, Trammeln, shows the gate that is currently active. The second moon, Felluca, shows the destination gate. Due to the different moon phases only certain combinations are possible. If used correctly, the moon gates spare you a lot of walking and facilitate the game significantly. From the listed places you get to the destinations as below:

• Moonglow: Britain, Jhelom
• Britain: Yew, Minoc, Trinsic
• Jhelom: Moonglow, Skara Brae, Magincia
• Yew: Britain, Jhelom
• Minoc: Shrine of Spirituality, Trinsic, Skara Brae
• Trinsic: Moonglow, Britain, Magincia
• Skara Brae: Jhelom, Yew, Minoc
• Magincia: Trinsic, Skara Brae

Example: To get teleported from Trinsic to Britain, the following constellation must appear: -

Phase	Town	Coordinates	Mood gate	Virtue	Rune
	Moonglow	I'H" O'I"	I'F" O'A"	Honesty	A'G" A'I"
	Britian	G'K" F'C"	G'G" G'A"	Compassion	A'B" B'J"
	Jhelom	N'O" C'E"	O'A" C'G"	Valor	B'O" B'O"
	Yew	C'L" D'K"	C'F" D'C"	Justice	A'G" A'N"
	Minoc	B'E" J'P"	B'D" K'G"	Sacrifice	B'O" B'M"
	Trinsic	L'I" G'K"	M'C" G'I"	Honor	B'N" A'C"
	Skara Brae	I'A" B'G"	H'O" B'H"	Spirituality	A'I" B'B"
	Magnicia	K'J" L'L"	K'H" L'L"	Humility	B'N" B'N"

The eight stones

For each of the eight avatar virtues there is a coloured stone. Six of these stones can be found in several dungeons, the rest at two other places.

• The blue stone: The Blue Stone of Honesty is in level VI of the dungeon Deceit which lies at LAT: E'J" LONG: P'A" on the Bloody Isles. You need a ship to reach it.
• The yellow stone: The Yellow Stone of Compassion lies in the V. level of the dungeon Despire. You find the dungeon at LAT: E'D" LONG: F'L" in Serpent's Spine.
• The red stone: The Red Stone of Valor. It can be found in the VII. level in Destard, at LAT: K'J" LONG: E'I", in the mountains west of the Fens of the Dead.
• The green stone: The Green Stone of Justice. It is in the VIII. level of the dungeon Wrong, which is located at the position LAT: B'E" LONG: H'O" in the mountains west of Lost Hope Bay.
• The orange stone: The Stone of Scarifice lies in the VII. level of Covetous. This dungeon is located at the position LAT: B'L" LING: J'M", southwest of the town Minoc, and can be reached by ship.
• The purple stone: The Purple Stone of Honor. You find it in the II. level of Shame. This dungeon is located at LAT: G'G" LONG: D'K". For this you need to follow a small river into the Serpent's Spine with a ship coming from northwest.
• The white stone: The White Stone of Spirituality. You find it in the middle of Serpent's Spine, at the position LAT: F'A" LONG: E'A". To be able to reach it, you need the Lighter-Than-Air-Device, a balloon!
• The black stone: The Black Stone of Humility. It is easiest to reach of all stones. Look at the place where the moon gate of Moonglow (I'F" O'A") also opens at a double new moon, when both moons reach the position 1 (so when the gate should appear!)

The three key parts

For these you need to go to the dungeon Hythloth! In the eighth level there are three chancels, where the stones need to be used in their order within the principles to get the key parts. The following altars have the following combinations:

• Truth: blue, green, purple, white
• Love: yellow, orange, green, white
• Courage: red, orange, purple, white

Other important items

• The Silver Horn can be found on one of the islands at the southern tip of Spiritwood K'N" C'N" (you need it at the Shrine of Humility)
• You can find the Bell of Courage if you search with a ship at a flat place in the water in the ocean at N'A" L'A".
• The Book of Truth can be found in the Lycaeum A'G" A'G" in the shelf "T". The Lord tells you the first part of the Word of Passage: "VER"
• You find the Skull of Mondain if you sail to the three volcanoes in the sea P'F" M'F" during dobule new moon.
• At Serpent's Hold A'P" A'I" you search the training mat until you find the Mystic Weapons, which are the only ones that work in the chasm. The Lord tells you the last part of the Word of Passage: "COR"
• In Empath Abbey A'E" B'G" in the oak grave lie the Mystic Armors. The Lord givess you the second part of the Word of Passage: "AMO"
• The town Cove lies at the Lock Lake and you only get there with the "Blink" spell. In Cove A'B" B'G you enter the temple of virtue where you find the Candle of Love.
• The Wheel of HMS Cape can be found at N'H" G'A"

Map of Britannia

You can only get the sextant, when you ask the thieves for item "D", which is not on the list. This little helper is an absolute must in Britannia, because it gives the corresponding location of the user in latitude and longitude.
Britannia is divided into 16 x 16 big blocks, which are again divided into 16 x 16 small fields.
Example: Lat. D' L'', Long. M' J'', short "DLMJ" or DL MJ means, that you are in the map block on D latitude and M longitude and within this block in the field on L latitude and J longitude (in Vesper).

Map of Britannia without labels.

Map of Britannia without labels and legend.

Map of Britannia with all the town names: